Rounding Up the Top 3 Search Engines

written by: DeborahWoehr•edited by: Amy Carson•updated: 11/26/2010

Are you brand new to the Internet and unsure which search engine fits your needs the best? This roundup of the most popular search engines may help you decide, once you find out what each has to offer.

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Introduction

What is a search engine? The simple definition is that a search engine is a site that collects information about billions of sites so that people can find them. When a user enters a search query, only the sites that contain the keywords in that query will show.

You will find several major search engines when you log on to the Internet. The question you may have is if you are using the right one for your needs. Which one will help you with your everyday web surfing? Let’s explore what each of the most popular search engines have to offer.

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Google

Google ranks #1 in the search engine category for a variety of reasons. It has a plain white interface that is simple to use. The search engine is its main feature. Enter in a keyword or string of keywords and get millions of search results within seconds. Websites are not the only thing that Google can search for. It can search for images, books and videos, as well.

The Trends feature will tell you what people are searching for the most at any given time. Gmail is very popular because it has several features of its own, including a superior spam filter. AdWords and AdSense are extremely popular with marketers who rely on Google to help them make sales.

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Yahoo!

Yahoo ranks #2 in the search engine category. Unlike Google, which keeps most of its features under the hood, Yahoo sets the majority of theirs out for the user to choose. You will find the search engine at the top of the site, next to the Yahoo! logo. Search the web, images, video, local, shopping and more.

Yahoo! has its own trends feature, which you can use to learn what the hot items are on the news and with the celebrities. Yahoo! not only has a search engine and a trend watch, but it also has a network of sites and news aggregator that you can set to display for your local area.

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Bing

Microsoft’s Bing adopted Google’s “less is more” interface. You will find the search box in a prominent place against a picturesque backgrop. Just below that, you will find tools to search images, videos, shopping, news, maps, travel, entertainment and search history.

The site preferences link, located in the upper righthand corner of the page, will take you to the site preferences. There, you can configure SafeSearch, your web settings, whether you want search suggestions and what search language you want to use.

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Conclusion

The goal of this article was to provide you with a roundup of the three top rated search engines so that you will know their differences and how they can benefit you.